Himeno's Legacy
by Aishuu
Summary: Reupload! Divergence around episode 7. What if Himeno never recovers her confidence and dies? What if Mawata is left as her successor?
1. Aftermath

DISCLAIMER:Mawata and company belong to Asuka Comics DX . I'll return her (very reluctantly) after this is done, though Sasame might be a touch late. Spoilers for Pretear. Pretear and all original characters and plot copyright 2002 by Quicksilver/Aishuu. Please ask permission before reposting.  
  
Aishuu Offers:  
Himeno's Legacy  
A Shin Shirayukihime Densetsu Pretear Fan Fiction  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
Chapter One: Aftermath  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~   
  
It was Kei, of all the Liefe Knights, who said what none of them wanted to acknowledge. "We need to find a new Prétear." Kei was the most coolly practical, and also the coldest. He hadn't known Himeno that well.  
  
Sasame just looked at him for a second before nodding quietly. Goh looked angry at the idea of replacing Himeno so quickly, but muttered agreement that protecting the world took precedence over their feelings, and the three youngest knights agreed easily enough.   
  
Predictably enough, it was Hayate who refused. He had been half in love with Himeno, and Takako had been in love with him, so his track record with Prétears wasn't the best. "We can handle this by ourselves!" he insisted. "Himeno shouldn't be replaced like a space tire!"  
  
The Knights waited for Sasame to intervene, since Sasame was usually the only one who could argue with the Wind Knight and win. Sasame, though, remained quiet as Hayate vanished. "Aren't you going to reason with him?" Kei asked, knowing that of all of them, Sasame was the only one likely to get through to the moody Knight of Wind.  
  
"Why should I?" Sasame asked. "When I'm not even convinced he's wrong?" He looked quietly at the others before vanishing as well.  
  
Goh looked at the place where the melancholy silver-haired had vanished. "This is not good."  
  
Kei seemed thoughtful. He raised a slender hand to his chin and tapped it thoughtfully. "Shin, Hajime, Mannen… you three start looking for the new Prétear. She should be in this town, still. Prétear is always near where she is needed."   
  
"But-" Mannen began to protest.  
  
"Is it too tough for you children?" Kei asked, his tone slightly condescending.  
  
"No!" Mannen said. "Come on!" The three youngest Knights vanished with traces of ice, water and the scent of flowers.  
  
Goh looked at the blonde knight. "You're so cold. Was that really such a good idea? Without Sasame and Hayate cooperating…"  
  
"They will. They know their duty."  
  
Goh's temper, never far from the surface, reared its head. "Is that all it is? DUTY?" He grabbed Kei's shirt and lifted the smaller Knight off his feet. "Himeno just died! And you're trying to force another Prétear onto all of us! Mannen is right- you should be the Knight of Ice..." he said, disgust audible in his voice.  
  
Kei's amber eyes suddenly lit, and burned like lasers. Goh found himself setting his friend down without knowing why he felt a surge of fear. "You think I don't miss her?" he asked. "How can I not? How can you Prét with a girl and not love her? Especially someone like Himeno, who was so full of life and joy? But Saihi destroyed her, and there's no time in this battle to stop and mourn for the fallen! We can mourn later, when we win."  
  
"When?" Goh whispered, for once allowing his own depression show.  
  
"When. For Himeno, we must win. For if we don't…" Kei trailed off. The thought was simply too horrid to say aloud.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
The sun continued to rise and set, for now.  
  
For now, Saihi Fehnrir was held in check, but he knew that it wouldn't be long until she managed to break through, and perhaps, perhaps… They had defeated Prétears who had gone bad before, but this time was different.  
  
He hadn't loved the other ones.  
  
Sasame looked around the station, nodding at the people who waved to him. He had taken a few days off work because of injury, but he couldn't avoid it anymore. A radio personality had to keep up regularly, or else lose their audience. He also had the pressure of being the station's prize draw, and there was currently a deal for national syndication in the works. It was the last thing he wanted in the world he wanted, but he hadn't been able to come up with a reasonable explanation on why he was against it. Sometimes he wondered why he gave advice, when all he was able to do was be pushed around.  
  
"Sasame!" a cheerful voice called.  
  
He turned around to see his assistant Junko hurrying up to him. "You're doing a four-hour special, instead of your usual two," she informed him. "And great news! You've been picked up by at least twelve stations, and two dozen more are interested in you! We go nation-wide next week!"  
  
He blinked, feeling like he'd been hit by a fast-moving car. "That's… great."  
  
She frowned at him, placing her hands on her hips. "Sasame? Are you okay? Are you still ill?"  
  
He shook his head. "I'm fine, Junko," he assured her. "Just a little tired."  
  
Junko was forty if she was a day, but acted more like a girl in her teens. She was Sasame's self-proclaimed "# 1 Fan!" and always had enough energy to fill a room and then some. Being around her was refreshing for him- she practical radiated spare Liefe. If she had been younger, she would have made an excellent Pretear. "Maybe you should sit? I can see about-"  
  
Sasame raised a hand to forestall her fluttering around him like a nervous mother hen. "I need to get back to work. It'll be good for me- but thanks for your concern."  
  
She went still for a second, seeming to wonder if she should press him before she grabbed his hand and dragged him into the room that was set up as the office for his show. Most of the DJs didn't have their own offices, but he was the most popular. It might have been a cause for rivalry, if he wasn't, as Morning Meiko so accurately put it, "so blasted nice."  
  
"I assume I have a lot of mail?" he asked, stepping into the office, then blinked in surprise. There were flowers everywhere, along with heaping bags of mail, boxes of chocolate, and stuffed animals. He blinked again. "Well…"  
  
"I already weeded out all the get-well cards, and the standard teenage angst, love notes, and all that. On your desk are the ones I thought you should at least read, and here," she said, handing over about ten cards, "were the ones I thought would make good material for the show."  
  
He took them, smiling slight as he noticed a letter with familiar handwriting. It had been neatly slit along the top with some sort of letter-opener, and he put the others down to study it. "A letter? From Silk-san?" he asked. That was unusual… she usually only sent him postcards, postcards which made him ache with shared loneliness.  
  
"You should read it," Junko said, seriously. "She's hurting. The other stations really love your relation you built with her… they want her to keep writing- think you should encourage her. Maybe make it a small section weekly, or something. About the pain of a young girl growing up, and all that."  
  
"I don't want to use her like that," he said quietly. "I don't want her to feel pressured to write me." He pulled the note out, and was surprised that it was on ordinary paper, rather than the expensive postcards Silk had always favored before.  
  
Then again, Silk was also Himeno's sister.  
  
He opened the letter up, and was surprised to see how thick it was- at least ten pages of neat kanji. "Did you read this?" he asked.  
  
"As soon as I realized it was from Silk, I read the whole thing… did you really meet her?" Junko asked, sitting down on top of a filing cabinet, which teetered precariously under her weight.  
  
"Her sister was a close friend of mine," Sasame murmured. "The world's a small place, apparently." He adjusted the glasses that he didn't need but wore when he was "Sasame" instead of the "Knight of Sound". It helped he remember which persona he was in.   
Dear Sasame,  
  
I don't know why I'm writing this to you,   
or if I even should… but you were her friend, too.  
Perhaps you can help me figure out why I feel as   
though a part of me is missing, when I   
barely even knew her….  
  
I was never nice to her- not truly nice, the kind   
of kindness that comes from the heart.   
That bothers me now, I think. She always tried   
to be friendly to me, but I was never  
kind in return. It's so hard to accept that I'll never   
see her smile at me, and never again   
have the chance to smile back.   
  
It's as though with her death, my last chance at   
breaking my solitude has been taken away…  
He l ooked down at the letter, the outpouring of a lonely girl's heart, and forced himself to keep from crying. Silk had, as always, voiced exactly what he felt.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Mawata supposed that she should know death; after all, her father had died, and his death had left her all alone. One again, the family had been plunged into mourning, and this time, it was for a child.  
  
Mawata rested her hand against the doorframe, listening to her stepfather whisper unintelligibly, and her mother murmur meaningless words of comfort. She knew better than most how empty those words were, how someone who didn't understand couldn't comfort the heart. How could Natsue understand what Kaoru was going through? She may have lost a husband, but she had never lost a child.  
  
How had Himeno, of all of them, died? How could it have happened?  
  
Her gaze lingered on the grieving adults before a hand pulled her back. Emerald green eyes met her, and she looked at Mikage. "Is dinner ready?" she asked, amazed that her voice still sounded the same, as though there was nothing different.  
  
"Okusama requested that it be served in your rooms… she wants to spend some time alone with Kaoru-sama. I can bring it up whenever you're ready," she said. "Perhaps after Sasame's program? Or during?" the pretty maid offered.  
  
"I'm not hungry," Mawata said softly, before turning away towards her fifth-floor bedroom. She liked that her room was so high above the grounds- it gave her a great view, even though she rarely looked out her window anymore. She hadn't found much worth seeing on the vast estates, even though she knew there was plenty out there she hadn't a clue existed.   
  
She lacked curiosity.   
  
Was there some fundamental flaw in her make-up, one that had been created when her father had died? Or had she created it herself, when she had become the perfect daughter when her mother and sister had been falling apart? She had saved them, but who would save her?  
  
She had often wondered that. There were no white knights left in the world- she had wanted to believe that Sasame could be hers, for whenever she listened to him speak, it seemed as though he spoke to her heart, as though he understood exactly how she was feeling. No one else was able to speak to her like that.  
  
Still, Sasame was a celebrity and someone far beyond her reach. He had been Himeno's friend, and perhaps more. She had seen them around town, laughing together. Himeno had been able to make anyone laugh, simply by being herself.  
  
She missed Himeno's smile. Himeno had always had a smile ready for her.  
  
Mawata wondered what happened to her stepsister. One day Himeno had suddenly stopped smiling, and within a week, she had died. The coroner had said it was as though the young girl's heart had simply given out, but Mawata found that hard to believe. How could someone as vibrant as Himeno die, while she continued to live? When she wasn't even sure she wanted her life?  
  
She wondered if there was some deity who was laughing up there. Take the girl who loved life, and was loved by everyone, and leave behind the one who would have given anything to escape.  
  
Mawata brushed a stray lock of hair away from her aqua eyes, wondering if she would ever know the truth. That bothered her.  
  
She glanced out a window, wondering why she was so concerned for someone she had barely known. It was true that Himeno had been loveable, but Mawata hadn't known her well. Still, Himeno had been a ray of hope into her life…  
  
A shadow of a movement caught her attention, and suddenly a wild, crazy idea filled her head. She tried to dismiss it, but her feet had her racing to the front door and throwing shoes on before she could.  
  
Mawata raced across the lawn, panting slightly at the unfamiliar exertion. She rarely got excited at anything, but…  
  
He was standing there, holding, of all things, a garden hose as he watered the begonias. His eyes seemed impossibly sad as he stared at the window of the room Himeno had lived in, and around him his hair swirled free. He looked more like a prince then a worker.  
  
Mawata folded her arms across her chest and stared at the odd-jobs man Kaoru had hired. "Hayate-san," she said coolly, suddenly aware didn't know his family name, "I want to know what happened to Himeno."  
  
END CHAPTER ONE  
  
Up Next: The Whisper of Truth  
Sorry, I know I have enough projects on my plate- anyway, I was sick of the poor showing of Prétear fanfics. Anyway, I have the next part of Mystic Eyes and a Kare Kano fanfic on my comp, I just need to format them! Anyway, feedback would be appreciated- I really feel like I'm throwing fanfic into this giant pit of no return! 


	2. The Whisper of Truth

Aishuu Offers:  
Himeno's Legacy  
~A Prétear Fanfiction~  
mbsilvana@yahoo.com  
Disclaimer: Not mine, Not mine.  
Author's Note: This diverges around… Episode Seven. Suppose Himeno had never regained her Prétear powers and even… died? What if Mawata ended up as her successor?  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
Chapter 2: The Whisper of Truth  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Sasame fiddled with his headphones, trying to adjust them so they didn't his earring as uncomfortably into his skull. It was only recently that he had began to wear the blasted things- he had tried to tell his producer that he didn't need them, but the producer said Sasame should at least look the part of a DJ.  
  
He was halfway tempted to turn the blasted things off in spite of it, but the soundproofing the studio possessed hampered him, and if he shucked the headphones, Mika-san, his producer, would throw something at him. She'd done it before.  
  
He read the letters that he had selected for this program, then carefully answered with thoughtful advice. Over the centuries he had lived, he had seen a lot, and he had learned to understand human nature. His advice was usually accurate and straight to the heart, and listeners related. Many people found it impossible to believe that he was only the 22 his driver's license proclaimed him. He had the attitude of a much older man, they would tell him.  
  
They were right.   
  
In a way, all of the knights had a strange form of immortality. If they died, they would be reborn. Sasame had only died twice- it was something he didn't like doing much. Kei had died three times, and so had Shin, while Hajime was on his sixth time around. Hayate, Goh and Mannen seemed to be holding a contest to see which one could die the most often- he had lost count after the twelfth time for each. He supposed it had to do with their more impetuous natures. Each of them threw themselves into combat more fervently (and with reckless stupidity, in Sasame's private opinion) than their more cautious comrades.   
  
Sasame could feel Junko's eyes on him as she watched from the production booth. He spoke clearly, finishing he show with his trademark, "I'll always listen," and then hit the button that would take him off air.  
  
As soon as the "ON AIR" light went out, Junko burst in. She put her hands on her hips, as was her custom when she was annoyed, leaning forward on her toes so she could glare at him. "You didn't read Silk-san's letter!" she accused.  
  
He looked at her as he took the hated headphones off and handed them over to Daiichi, the next DJ. He motioned for her to follow him, and they got out of the room, knowing that Daiichi's "Love Me, Love You!" show was about to go on. Daiichi was known for using stunts, and Sasame wasn't fond of him.   
  
"The letter was too long to read on the show," he said. "I'm going to write her a letter and have a friend deliver it."  
  
Junko's irritation with him vanished. "Do you want me to drop it off?"  
  
He laughed quietly. "You just want to meet her. No, you'd have a hard time getting into her house- it has to be someone she's acquainted with."  
  
"Why don't you deliver it yourself?" Junko asked, swinging into his office.  
  
He shook his head. "It's better if I remain distance… I can be her confessor from a afar- if I get involved…"  
  
Junko smiled at him before perching on top of the filing cabinet again. "It's hard to bare your heart to someone you know…" she agreed, before giving him a brilliant smile. "You're such a special person, Sasame…"  
~*~*~*~*~  
Hayate was silent as the small girl stared him down. There was no anger or passion in her look, merely one of inquiry. Something about her turquoise eyes looked through his very soul, and gave the impression that she found it wanting. Mawata's eyes were perfect mirrors in which he saw himself reflected, but there was no sign of the girl had any feeling whatsoever as she asked him about her dead stepsister.   
  
"Himeno died… that's what happened," he said brusquely. He set the hose down and went towards the facet to turn off its water supply.  
  
"Tell me… I have to know…" Mawata demanded.  
  
Hayate turned to say he didn't know anything, that he was just an odd-jobs man, but something in the set of the nearly fifteen-year old girl's face stopped him. "Himeno took on a responsibility that was too much for her, and it killed her," he said. "And that's all I'll tell you."  
  
He brushed past her, then raced to the small pond that marked the gate between Earth and Leafania. The water was remarkably pure, some of the cleanest on the planet Earth. He remember the time when it had been infected by a mayouchuu, and Himeno had made her first Prét to fight it.   
  
He remembered watching her, trying to be happy… after she lost her faith in them. He remembered her laugh, and how it had become artificial, and the fear in her cinnamon-colored eyes.   
  
She had feared becoming Saihi… she had feared it more than dying.  
  
So she had died.  
  
He knelt down beside the pool, unaware that he had been followed. Usually he would have been more alert to his surroundings, but Hayate was lost in remorse and guilt, and the memory of destroying the girl he loved, inadvertent though it had been.  
  
Mawata stood behind one of the large statues, knowing that now was not the moment to press. Hayate, too, was grieving, and his grief was deeper than anyone's she had seen. It made her feel small inside. She looked over at how his fingers trailed into the clear water, and decided that she would ask him later.  
  
She needed to know. It was becoming a burning desire inside her, to know the truth. It seemed that her entire life, she had been quietly set aside or forced herself to remain quiet, but this moment, now, she had a chance to know the truth. And she was going to seize it. She was going to be selfish, for a change. "Hayate… what happened to Himeno? She was a healthy girl who practiced martial arts… her heart shouldn't have just given out like that!" Mawata insisted.  
  
The handsome man remained still. "There are… things on this earth that most people don't know of. Himeno tried her best to stop something dreadful from happening and for a while, she did a very good job, but even the strongest spirit wilts when its weakest point is attacked." He didn't even bother turning to look at the girl, merely speaking in a voice that was divorced from all emotion.  
  
Mawata didn't say anything for several long moments. "Did that dreadful thing happen?" she asked softly.  
  
Hayate shook his head. "No. You'll know when it does. The entire world will." He reached a hand out to the pool, sending ripples across the pond.   
  
"When?" Mawata echoed.  
  
"Himeno bought the world some time, but there's no one who can replace her. No one will ever be strong enough to fight the way she did." Hayate turned around and Mawata almost gasped as she saw the despair in his deep sapphire blue eyes. "It was our fault she died, Mawata-san... and the world will pay for it." He rose to his feet slowly and walked into the forest again, and this time, the girl didn't follow him.  
~*~*~*~*~  
Sasame wrote to Mawata as soon as he arrived home in the apartment he kept on the Earth plane. In Leafania, he lived elsewhere, but traveling back and forth between the two realms was tiring and impractical, especially since the battle was now primarily here. Saihi Fenrir was loose, and she wanted to conquer this realm in order to destroy everything.  
  
He, better than anyone, understood how her mind worked. He...  
  
Sasame shook his head, refusing to think of her. She was not the girl who had once been Takako.   
  
As he settled at his desk, he pulled out the stationary he rarely used. He was good at telling people things, but when it came to writing them, he always had trouble phrasing himself the way he wanted to. He rested the back of the pen against his lips as he tried to figure out exactly what he could tell Mawata to ease some of her suffering.  
  
Obviously he couldn't say anything about Himeno being Prétear. But...   
Mawata,  
  
I think it's time I called you that, since   
we've met at last. Perhaps it was fate that let us   
cross paths that day, and tied us together through   
her. I would like to think that we could, perhaps,   
be friends someday.  
  
Her death hasn't been easy for me to deal   
with, either. She was such a brilliant personality   
that people couldn't help but be drawn to her, even   
if they didn't want to be. There was something about   
her smile that drew you in, and made you want to   
get up no matter how hard life forced you down.   
  
She was kind, but don't forget her temper. I   
remember her grumbling over another of our friends   
on more than one occasion! She wasn't just sweetness,   
and that is something you need to keep in mind. None   
of us are pure light. We're combinations of shadows as   
well, even someone like her.  
  
As for breaking your solitude... I don't believe   
she was your only chance. She was the first person you   
met in person who tried, but you were coming to do that   
by yourself. You wrote me on your own, a sign that you   
were ready not to be alone anymore. Take the memory   
of the love she was willing to offer you, and use it to give   
you strength to reach out to those around you. Other   
people are willing to welcome you.  
  
Sasame  
He set his pen down, staring at the drying black ink. Sasame reread what he had just written, a bit surprised at how open he had been to a girl he really didn't know. Mawata's pain, though, called out to him, and as a Liefe Knight, he felt obligated to try to heal it. "Maybe I should take my own advice?" he whispered to himself, grabbing an envelope and addressing it before he could lose his nerve. One of the other knights would deliver it for him, if he asked.   
  
"SASAME!"  
  
He blinked, feeling the magic of his earring send the message to him. None of the knights were telepathic, except when they were in Prét with the Prétear. It was the jewelry they wore that connected them to each other, marking they servitude to Leafania and Liefe. The message coursed through him, and it took only an instant for him to sort out a panicked Mannen being attacked by another one of the minions of Saihi. He winced and, without even having to think about it, transformed.   
  
It was strange, becoming the Knight of Sound. Everything magnified and became more intense, and he knew that even Junko wouldn't recognize him, for Sasame was someone completely different. Sight, scent and touch faded away into unimportance, replaced by the supernatural abilities that made him the master of sound. He could be blindfolded and still see perfectly, for the sound waves would guide him. Still, there was no time to muse on it. Mannen needed him. With a rush of power, he shut his eyes and teleported.  
  
Shin hadn't arrived yet, which meant the damage was being dealt to the real world instead of the pocket dimension the Knight of Plants carried with him. Sasame quickly surveyed the scene, watching Mannen launch another attack at the slimy black creature that was leeching all the life from the park. "Mannen, where are the others?" he demanded.  
  
"I don't know!" the boy said. "You were the only one in range!" He narrowly dodged one of the tentacles that sought to wrap around his waist and suck him dry. A Liefe Knight was a prize that all the minions sought.  
  
Sasame's eyes dimmed. Though Mannen wouldn't admit it, he wasn't the strongest knight when it came to communication. His range was short, and he didn't have a loud enough voice to force the others to pay attention - only someone who was in a receptive mood would hear him. Sasame was the knight of sound, which meant he couldn't really shut out communication unless he was making a conscious attempt to, but for the others not to hear...  
  
Well, Shin and Hajime were probably on Leafania which would be hard for Mannen to reach, but Goh, Hayate and Kei...  
  
He would be speaking with them.   
  
"It's okay," Sasame said reassuringly. "This is just a minor mayuchuu. We can handle it." His eyes narrowed as he tried to find the heart. "Do you see the core?"  
  
"No!" Mannen yelled, and again the creature struck out for him, ignoring the older man who stood ten feet away. The boy yelled and launched another barrage of ice, trying to get the monster to back off. "If I DID, the stupid thing would have been defeated by now!" he continued in frustration.  
  
"Calm down," Sasame advised. "The angrier you get, the more likely it is to attack you."  
Mannen leveled a glare that made Sasame's fingers grow numb with cold. "Easy for you to say!"  
  
Sasame considered the situation. The Prétear was always able to see the core, but the knights always had to stumble through. It looked like he was going to have to go back to hid old methods. "Mannen, I'll find the core. When I do, I want you to hit it with a ice spike."  
  
Mannen turned to the older knight, nodding. "Gotcha! Be careful!" He floated back, watching with concern as Sasame shut his eyes and launched the first sound blast.  
  
Of all the knights, his were the best suited for locating the core, though it took time. His sound blast wasn't particularly powerful, but the wide range gave him an idea of the maychuu's composition as the echo sounded back to him. He listened closely, then spread his hand to launch another more concentrated blast at the creature's right shoulder...  
  
...just as it lunged at him.  
  
"SASAME!"  
  
He couldn't keep from screaming as the monster wrapping its left tentacle around his waist. There was nothing more painful then feeling Liefe being drained, the very essence of his being taken. Still, the second sound burst echoed back to him, and he looked up at Mannen, forcing himself to speak. "Right shoulder..."  
  
Mannen didn't need anymore prodding. The boy produce what looked like a ten-foot long ice lance and threw it with uncanny accuracy directly for the core. Sasame watched as it struck, and fell to the ground when the mayuchuu turned into dust.  
  
The Knight of Ice raced over to Sasame's side. "Are you okay?"  
  
Sasame forced a smile to his lips. In all honesty, he felt a bit angry that none of the other knights had been there and he was tired and wanted nothing more than to sleep for a while to regain his lost Liefe. Still, Sasame wasn't supposed to get angry, so he forced himself to don a reassuring smile. "I'm fine. We'd better consider getting out of here before the police show up, though."  
  
Mannen nodded nervously. "Thanks for coming. I'd never have been able to handle this myself."  
  
"We all need each other." Sasame pressed his hand on the boy's shoulder. Then his forced smile turned into a genuine one as a thought occurred to him. "Would you do me a favor?"  
  
Mannen nodded eagerly, always eager to help and prove his worth to one of the older knights. "Sure!"  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
It was a bit too late for a child to be out, but Mannen didn't consider himself a child. He was a Liefe Knight, and that made him an adult. He knew that eventually he would get the memories of his old lives back, and he couldn't wait. He wanted to be equal to everyone else once again.  
  
He had dreams, from time to time, about dying. He thought they might be memories of that last battle, when they put Saihi Fenrir under her seal, but he wasn't quite sure. He knew none of the others, especially Hayate and Sasame, liked to talk about it. Once he had gone to the place where Saihi was imprisoned, but seeing the seal of power he had cast in his last incarnation had chilled him; knowing he had died there had been weird and made his head swim.  
  
It was unfair that Himeno wouldn't be coming back. He missed her, and Shin still cried for her. But death for the Prétear was different than for her knights; when the Prétear died, it was forever. There was a legend of a Snow White Prétear, one who would eternally hold the position, but he couldn't believe in it. According to Kei, there had been dozens on Pretears, some of whom had lasted for centuries, but in the end, they had all died.   
  
Leaving behind those who loved them.  
  
And the knights had to deal with those who mourned.  
He glared down at the letter in his hand, wondering how Sasame had talked him into delivering it. Sasame never demanded or bullied, but somehow he always seemed to get his way. It was annoying. Mannen had only seen Mawata briefly, and he was unsure if she would even let him near her. The girl had been shy.  
  
"Bah," Mannen muttered to himself, standing outside the Awayuki house. He'd snuck past the guards and security that Awayuki Mayune had been so fond of. Now there was just a matter of getting Mawata's attention. He considered throwing a stone at her bedroom window, but aside from the fact that he didn't know which room was hers, that would probably sound the alarm. "Dammit," he muttered, savoring the sound of the illicit word. Goh would clean his mouth out with soap if he heard.  
  
"Can I help you?" A quiet voice asked.  
  
He spun around, unhappy that someone had surprised him. His eyes widened as he recognized the maid who Himeno had been so fond of. "Um... I have something for Mawata-san," he said.  
  
"I can give it to her," she offered.  
  
"I have to give it to her in person," Mannen said stubbornly. Sasame had been very explicit about that.  
  
The maid bowed. "Why don't you come in and I'll get her?" she offered.  
  
Mannen nodded in relief. This was easier then he thought.  
  
The house seemed more empty than the last time he had been in, as though Himeno's absence had taken all of the joy with it. The maid left him standing in the lobby after offering to get him refreshments, which he turned down. He wanted to get in and out. The extravagant furnishings mocked the sorrow the family had to be feeling. Mannen waited, hoping that Mawata would hurry. The place was giving him the creeps.  
  
The girl appeared in about five minutes, her eyes nearly black in the poor lighting. "Yes?" she asked, and then she halted as she recognized him. "It's you," she said softly. "You were one of Himeno's friends."A soft smile graced her lips, transforming her face into something beautiful.  
  
Mannen was surprised she remembered, and felt a blush overcome his cheeks. "I... Sasamesentthisforyou!" he said hurriedly, bowing and looking down. He held the letter out in both hands, hoping she would take it so he could get away from this place.  
  
She took a moment to decipher what he had garbled out. "You know Sasame?" she asked.  
  
Mannen just nodded, but was unable to refrain from taking a peek at her.  
  
Mawata's expression was curious as she reached out to take the letter, but as soon as their fingers touched, she jerked them back. An enormous surge of energy passed between them, and her eyes widened. "I'm sorry... I must have picked up some static electricity somewhere."  
  
The letter slipped from Mannen's fingers as he raised his head to stare at her in shocked amazement. He had only felt that energy once before, the first time he had every touched Himeno. Amazingly, crazily, against all logic.... Awayuki Mawata was the next Prétear.   
  
  
END PART TWO  
  
Up Next: The Calling of a Prétear 


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